My Final Fairytale
by Chibimoon2008
Summary: My story begins seventeen years ago. I’m twenty now, and it’s soon to end. Listen patiently, for I’ll be gone by the sunrise. My name is Temari...
1. Chapter 1: Flames

Okay, I've dropped a couple of my other fics for now so I can work on this new one and Miss Understood. Sorry the first chapter's so short, but I've already started the second and it should be out soon. Please review with questions and comments! I laugh at you flames, flamers!

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

My Final Fairytale

Chapter 1: Flames

I ran through the orchard - where, I don't know. But someone – some_thing_ – was following. There was no noise, and that's what scared me the most. Even my quick footsteps, my hard breathing, my pounding heart; they were silent. Nothingness, but the rows of trees. Row after row, stretching on for an eternity, a never ending garden of fruitless towers.

And then suddenly it _did_ end, at least for a while. For on each side of the clearing the trees continued, branching out into the night and blocking out even the ethereal glow of midnight's full moon. But in this clearing, the moonlight broke through the branches of a tree – just a single one, huge and ancient. It must have grown ages before the choking forests surrounding it. I unconsciously ran my hand along the rough, scarred bark of the tree, the only sanctuary in this darkness, and I was filled with the strange sensations of curiosity and fear. No, not fear…

Excitement.

And then it erupted into flames.

(&)

_My name is Temari._

You've heard of me, but you don't know me. No one does. I'm a Kazekage's daughter, a Kazekage's sister, and a powerful Jounin of Suna. I'm also a woman, still a child afraid of the dark. You've met people who've met me, but you've never met me yourself. You never will. I'm strong, tanned, and blonde, with deep green eyes. I'm also outspoken, still strangled by silence.

_This is my story._

(&)

My story begins seventeen years ago. I'm twenty now, and it's soon to end. Listen patiently, for I'll be gone by the sunrise.

It didn't start when I was born. It started when I was three, in the depths of that wondrous place I called home. It started with my mother – or her death, at least.


	2. Chapter 2: Heartless

Ah, thank you for all of the reviews, everyone! Hehe, I didn't expect to get so many! Anyhow, this is the first major event in Temari's life. The second will be coming soon, entitled 'Time'. I know that these chapters are short and all, but it will help me get them out sooner and easier, and there will be more of them. It's just easier. I am sorry if it inconveniences you, though.

My Final Fairytale

Chapter 2: Heartless

The night my mother died, I was in bed sleeping soundly – at least to the naked eye. But my breathing was irregular, apparent to any ninja. Hehe, good thing only servants came to check on me. My eyes closed, my mind open, I heard the screams. The sheet music to my mother's new song – she was teaching me to play the piano – was in her room. I wanted it, to try it out, because I couldn't sleep. Or so I said, as I tiptoed down the hall to see the commotion.

I hadn't seen my mother in days. She was my precious treasure, my most important person. We shared everything with each other. She taught me to fight, gave me my first fan, and the fan that I would use for the rest of my life. My mom taught me to read, to write, to love, and to hold tightly to what is dear to me. That is what she did that night. She held tightly to that squealing little wrinkled thing, covered in blood. Her blood.

I watched on as my mother's breaths became shorter, more ragged. The baby cried louder; my new little brother. I began to cry with happiness. I couldn't wait to play with him. I'd love him as much as I did Kankuro, my father, and of course my mother. My mother was crying too. I could see her happiness, but I could also see her pain.

She was horrified, but I couldn't understand why.

It hardly ever rained in Sunagakure, it being a desert and all, but lighting flashed outside, and the sky broke open with a roar so loud it shook the earth. The baby cried, and I cried. My dearest mother cried…and my heartless father laughed.

(&)

The next day I awoke to the sound of rain. Somehow I was able to get back to my room, despite what had happened. Flashes of last night's incidents swam through my head, and I scrunched the bloodstained sheets of paper ever closer to me, the only comfort I was offered that morning.

My eyes widened as I abruptly jumped out of bed and raced down the hallways, tears building in my eyes. I threw open the door to my parents' bedroom. Everything was clean, the bed was made up nicely, the curtains drawn to block out the pounding of the rain.

They could not block the pounding of my heart as I ran back the way I came, rushing into the kitchen only to find my uncle there, with Kankuro. They were eating breakfast; pancakes, bacon, eggs…did they not care about her? Didn't they care?! Didn't they _know_?!

I screamed at them. "Where is she?! Where's mom?!" My uncle looked at me in a funny sort of way, while Kankuro sat munching on his delicious, crispy bacon. I didn't like it cooked that way. And I didn't like scrambled eggs, or regular old circle pancakes. I liked my bacon straight and slightly crunchy, my eggs sunny side up with a bit of toast, and I like teddy bear pancakes. The way mom made breakfast. I let a little sob escape me as I sunk to the floor, holding the crumpled papers to my tiny, three-year-old body. "I want my mommy."

(&)

Since then I have never been the sort of girl to cry. Sometimes, rarely, I choke on dry sobs of horror. These twist my body into frantic convulsions for the remainder of each long, heartless night. The shadows under my eyes are growing, and the fear in my heart has spread to every corner of my body. I dread the hours of darkness, for I know of the terrors awaiting me in my restless sleep. I have never been more afraid. Although I want to ask, to reach out my shaking hand and satisfy my desperate need, I can't seem to say those three lonely words. _I need help_, I whisper. But there is no one to hear me, and there never will be.

That's why I'm telling you this story.


	3. Chapter 3: Time

Here is chapter three of Final Fairytale. Thank you for the reviews, everyone who reviewed. I didn't get as many as last time, but at least I got some! This time review, okay? And then it will become better and I'll update faster. Yay!

My Final Fairytale

Chapter 3: Time

The few days after my mother died, everything was hectic. There was a funeral, and black. Black was _everywhere_. I wore pale lavender to the funeral. And I didn't put boring old funeral flowers on her grave; the dull kind that grew in Suna. I put a desert rose on her box, and buried it with her. That was her favorite kind of flower. I can't believe my father didn't remember.

Five days after the funeral, I met my new baby brother, Gaara. His hair was as red as blood and his skin as pale as death, they said as he shrieked up a storm. I looked at him, and I held him in my small chubby arms. Your hair is as red as the sunrise and your skin is as pale as moonlight, I whispered to him, comforting him in the silence. The silence I had created, when he stopped crying because of my words. And then he was taken from me, and carried away to live with my uncle. I didn't see him again, except from the glances in the hallways in the arms of another. Wishing to hold him again, I continued to pray that father would accept him. That was until I was five, when I dared to question my father's reasons behind sending Gaara to live apart from us.

He glared down at me, his stoic form towering above me, as he began to yell curses and words I had never heard before. Kankuro wandered into the room, drawn by the outburst, but I shushed him and sent him back to bed. Turning to face my father, I was met by a slap that hurled me across the room. _Never, ever._ Never ever say that name again, he bellowed. _Don't go._ Don't go near that monster, he roared. _Hate you._ I hate you all, he yelled, as I cried silently in the corner for the rest of that desolate night.

(&)

What happened that night was a secret kept away from prying eyes. What happened nights after that, and after that, was a secret as well. Training accidents were suddenly frequent, and my silence was regarded as concentration on my studies. But no one knew what I sometimes faced in the evening, when I returned home from training. He didn't want pasta, he wanted meat. I needed treatment for the second degree burns I received from _spilling_ the boiling water all down my back. The pot had _tipped over_. It was an _accident_. He didn't like bad grades, he like good grades. I didn't go back to school for days, because I was _sick_ with the flu. I was lying in _bed_. I wasn't _starving_ in a _closet_ for that time. He didn't want his son to play with dolls, he wanted a strong ninja to boast about. I spent hours picking out the pieces of glass that had gotten stuck in the cuts in my skin when the glass in the window _shattered._ All because of a _weak window frame_. I had never been in so much _pain._ I cried for my mommy.

(&)

By the time I was six, I though I had been through just about all the worst possible experiences anyone _could_ go through. Boy was I wrong. You see, I overheard my father plotting against my baby brother. My Gaara; he was plotting to kill my Gaara. After dinner, after Kankuro was in bed, I sat up and waited. I guarded the door, eyes watching for any movement in the shadows, expecting my father to leap out and try for the door. He walked into the room and towards the door, so I set into action. Quickly I stepped in front of him, holding out my hands to block his way.

What are you doing? Where are you going? Why would you do something like that? You can't. _You can't._ YOU CAN'T! I won't let you! I had thought I knew pain, but I was more wrong than I have ever been. I howled in anguish and cried for help and even when none arrived I stood my ground. I stood my ground as my father beat me, and I didn't fight back because I knew it would hurt even more in the end.

For three years, I stood my ground. I refused to talk about those times, and I refused to let my father speak a word to anyone; to plot slyly in the shadows behind my back. Until the night he finally broke my barriers, broke my guard, broke _me_. It started out like usual, but I said that name – the forbidden one. And he snapped.

He threw knives at me, and anything else he could find. When he realized he had no more weapons he threw himself at me, and wrestled me to the ground, banging…no, _slamming_ my head against the kitchen floor. I shrieked, and motioned for Kankuro to go back to bed. Ignore me, Kankuro. Just ignore me. And there was a sticky pool forming on the ground, but he continued to slam my head against the floor, until the lights danced around and I didn't hurt anymore. I welcome the darkness that consumed me.

(&)

I was in the hospital for five months, and I've been on medication ever since, so I don't go insane and start hallucinating. I caught glimpses of Gaara at the academy, and he was always alone. _I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry you'll have to be like me. Alone._

(&)

Time passes, and I thought that maybe I'd deserve to get some back. I never did, and apparently I never will, because death is on my doorstep and chills crawl up my spine. To this day, I whisper when I'm in my bed, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.


	4. Chapter 4: Memories

Hihi, minna! I'm back with chapter 4 of Final Fairytale. Please enjoy! I loved the reviews I got, thank you to Mr. Cereal and AdiosPistola. This chapter is dedicated to you two.

My Final Fairytale

Chapter 4: Memories

Nine years passed, and I grew into a young woman. I was trained as a kunoichi; the top kunoichi in Suna, now. Along with Kankuro and Gaara, who had grown more distant over the years, I strived to meet my father's standards. The consequences were ones none of us wanted to face.

Together but alone, we learned to work in perfect synchronization with each other. We knew the movements of each other like the back of our own hands. Then we were given a new challenge, which we were especially trained for. Under the fading sky of that desert land, we set out on a journey that would change our lives forever; and the lives of countless others.

(&)

The Chuunin Exams weren't difficult at all for the three of us, the sand siblings. Our team was invincible, but in the end being invincible was never enough. As we put our plan into action I could see that it wasn't going to work. I smiled at the thought.

Just to prove that man wrong, just once, and to thwart his plans…the thought thrilled me to the bone. I watched Gaara, restless in the night, and I could see his longing. He was still a child, like the rest of us, and he was still my baby brother. I approached him silently, but with inhuman-like senses Gaara realized my presence before I even reached him.

"Temari, what do you want?" he asked coldly. I shivered even in the warm night of Konoha. I walked towards Gaara and sat down next to him, on the windowsill.

"What do you think about?" I asked apprehensively. "When everyone else is sleeping?"

Gaara stared at me, confused by my question. "Why would you want to know?" I shrugged my shoulder, looking out towards the stars.

"Just wondering," I told him quietly. "I'm your older sister, you know. I have a right to worry about such things."

"Then…" Gaara began, also staring out at the stars. "What do you dream about?" It was my turn to be surprised.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, puzzled.

Gaara looked at me knowingly. "You always…turn a lot, when you sleep. And sometimes you have a painful look on your face. What are you dreaming about, then?"

"Ahaha," I laughed weakly. "I didn't think you'd notice something like that. I…don't know."

"Then I don't know what I think about," Gaara muttered cleverly. I sighed. A question for a question; it was plenty fair.

"I dream about a tree," I whispered. "Something is always running after me, but then – I come to a clearing in the forest I'm running through, and there's a tree. It always bursts into flames the second I touch it. Now it's your turn; what do you think about?" 

Gaara looked at me with those child-like eyes, filled with pain. I made a choking sound and forced myself to look back at him, strongly. "Everything. What I'm going to do tomorrow, who I might kill…I also think about you and Kankuro." My eyes widened in surprise. "And how…you really _aren't_ my sister. Because…I hate you." My heart broke into a thousand pieces right then, and I looked away from him.

"Well, I'm going back to bed. See you in the morning, Gaara," I said in a monotone voice. Shutting the door to my hotel room behind me, I sighed and fell onto my bed tiredly.

(&)

Mother, where are you now? Someday we'll meet again, I know, but if you were here right now, things wouldn't be going this way. All that I want – all that I want is to understand him. My memories continue to hold be back, keeping me from loving again. I'm trying, I really am, but with this I might give up. That's what I'm afraid of.


	5. Chapter 5: Chance

Okay, here's the fifth chapter to Final Fairytale. It takes place right after the whole Orochimaru ordeal during the Chuunin Exams. I'm sorry it's so short, but the next will hopefully be longer. Enjoy!

My Final Fairytale

Chapter 5: Chance

_My_

_Father_

_Is_

_Dead_

The words didn't match up. My brain couldn't process the meaning of these words; they didn't belong together, couldn't possibly be in the same sentence. _Father…dead…_

The end of his horrifying reign on my life had finally come, and with my brothers and the rest of the world I was given something I had never expected – never even _hoped_ for – and that was a chance. I got a _chance_ to live I got a _chance_ to be free.

And I laughed at his funeral.

(&)

I can't say I wasn't surprised with Gaara's decision. Becoming Kazekage was a large responsibility, and he was only twelve. I wasn't sure if he could make it, but I swore to myself that I'd be there next to him every step of the way. Until two years later, I kept that promise, and I was there. But the one time I wasn't there – was the time I should have been.

He sent me to Konoha, and I was tending to Chuunin Exam business with Nara Shikamaru, as Suna's representative. Gaara had specifically asked for me to do this; how could I refuse? Maybe he had realized how close that lazy ass ninja and I had become, and did it to offer us more time together. Highly unlikely, though, however much I'd like to think that was the case.

Sipping tea by a little shop in Konoha, the cup cracked. A bad omen; I knew something was wrong. I got to the gate just in time to catch that Naruto kid and his team leaving. No time to say goodbye to Shikamaru. Gaara was kidnapped.

(&)

I tried to blink back the tears in my eyes as I found out about Gaara. I tried to hide my surprise as I found out that Naruto was the same as Gaara. I tried to keep my jealousy restrained; fighting against me to make myself realize…Naruto was the one who might save Gaara, not me.

(&)

There were other things to be taken care of, such as Kankuro. He had been poisoned by that bastard Sasori. I couldn't go with them to save Gaara, no matter how much I wanted to. Uzumaki went, Haruno went, Obaa-sama went, and that perverted sensei went. Why couldn't I go?

He was _my_ brother. _My_ mother died to save him! _I_ had taken care of him for years! _I_ had suffered for him! I would give my life…if only to save him…

As I thought about these things, the jealousy in me made me clench my fists in anger. Would Gaara even come back alive? The thought settled upon me like a brick on water. Oh, god…

Does he still hate me?

(&)

Uzumaki saved him. Gaara was loved and admired by his people, as the Kazekage, and the jealousy inside twisted and turned within me, finally cutting off my last hope of reaching Gaara. It looks like I couldn't save him; I was too late, and he was saved by another. I wasted my chance.

I wouldn't get another.


	6. Chapter 6: Break

Exams are approaching. Over the summer I might update more, but this story isn't really my first priority. I'm sorry; don't kill me! I'll try, I can at least promise that. I hope that you like this chapter!

My Final Fairytale

Chapter 6: Break

My fingers flew across the keys, creating a melody that pierced the night air. I leaned over the large, black piano, and with my eyes closed I poured out my soul. The anger, the hopelessness, the confused little girl that I was inside – it all disappeared. As I completed the song, I smiled and opened my eyes. Where humans could not see, when humans could be cold, how humans could do nothing, who could find no source of comfort in that dark sea, which those very same humans have made.

My comfort is music, and no one knows why.

(&)

That boy always looks at the sky. Why? What is he looking at? Maybe he's just a lazy little ninja trying to escape from his duties. Or maybe there's something more; something deep inside of his soul that even he can't see. Maybe I should have realized it earlier, and maybe I should have looked. Maybe I should have looked more closely at him. Maybe he should have looked more closely at me.

We became friends, that boy and I. In my opinion, he was always to smart for his own good. On those endless, boring days, while we awaited the movement of Akatsuki, and the movement of Uchiha Sasuke, we looked at the sky. How boring, I thought. People had constantly been thinking of us as a couple ever since that Naruto came back from two years of training with some perverted Sannin named Jiraiya. We weren't holding hands, dammit! So, as I said, we looked at the sky. At the clouds. Oh joy.

Then I began to see something else – something different. Was that cloud there shaped like a rabbit? I think there was one shaped like a weasel. I love my weasel. What was that shape there, I asked myself? And as I stared at the clouds in confusion, he asked me what I saw. I didn't say anything; I just walked away. I didn't want to see that. I didn't want to see _her_.

(&)

Somehow, that crybaby ninja understood. I remember, he had felt a loss recently. His teacher, Asuma-san, had died in battle with the Akatsuki. I sort of felt sorry for him. He never asked what I saw in that sky again, and I never looked. All of my memories were revived, so I played, and I played, and I played…my soul on the piano…

He watched me silently, entranced by my song. Amazed that I made up every note along the way, and I remembered it. I knew he was there, but I didn't stop. I couldn't. I let him watch me, and it was the first time I had an audience. In a way, it made me happy.

(&)

The boy never confessed to watching me play, and I didn't pursue justice any further, but allowed him to come, night after night, to listen to my soul. My piano pieces turned from haunting and mysterious to slightly more open, and, if I'm not mistaken, happy. It was…unbelievable.

I became scared, so I stopped. He came night after night, but I was never there. I watched him wait for me to come and play for him. I decided not to play for him; but without my comfort, there was something even bigger monster waiting for an opening in my carefully planned façade. I didn't know what, but it was there. And it was because of _him_ that I would soon have to face it. It was because of _him_ that I would break.


End file.
